Newbie to Linux

Hello all.... I am trying to install Red Hat 9 on a SATA HD. The sata controller is onboard and don't know how to go about doing this. I am ultimately going to have both WinXP Pro and Linux in a Dual Boot format with two seperate HD's. I am also going to be using two removeable drives to use as a backup of the main HD's.

I already have XP installed on one of the HD's and now need to continue installing the Red Had 9 on the other hard drive. I have disconnected all the HD's except the one I want to install it on, but it tells me there is no drive in which to install files to, errors out and closes the install.

With XP I need to install the Driver for the SATA controller during the install but did not see anything like that for Red Hat 9??? I have been reading some google searches saying that Linux should support the SATA without needing the driver but for some reason I can't get it going. Is it that Red Hat 9 is too old for SATA??? I did see that the Linux probe found the PCI SATA Card I have installed for the removable HD's but don't know if it is okay for me to install on this device and move over to mainboard device later or if I should just use this device for both Main and Secondary Linux Drive and the Onboard SATA controller for XP??? Someone please help as I am kinda lost.

Doomsy

Hardware Config:

MSI Mainboard with SiS chipset 661FM2
Pentium 4 2.26
4 230GB SATA HD's (2 Removable, 2 Fixed)
2 IDE CD Drives (1 DVD/RW, 1 CD/RW)
7 in 1 USB (internal) Card Reader
PCI SATA Controller (2 Port)
Floppy

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Ok... so I have sucessfully installed Linux on the second HD (SATA) and now have both fixed HD's booting to WindowsXP and Linux. However I don't have a dual boot option during startup. Instead I have to disconnect my primary master SATA drive with XP on it to boot to Linux and have to reconnect it to get to XP. I guess I need to edit the boot.ini file to accomplish this task, however I don't know exactly what I am doing and need assistance.

(Overview: If I have all drives connected and boot normally my system goes right into Windows XP, and I have to manually disconnect the HD with XP on it to get to Linux. I need to create a Dual Boot option so that on normal startup I can select which HD I want to boot from, Windows XP or Linux)

Please help!!!!

Doomsy

you dont need to edit the boot.ini file, that will just cause you problems. what you do need is a bootloader. although i am curious as to how you installed it on your other hdd as RH9 doesn't know about SATA. why not get a more updated distro? redhat no longer supports RH9.. i'd suggest fedora. http://fedora.redhat.com


but back to the bootloader.. the popular kids on the block are GRUB and LILO. GRUB is the default booloader for fedora, which personally i like, however some people like LILO.

GRUB : http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/
LILO : http://linux.softpedia.com/get/System/B ... 1090.shtml

GRUB tutorial : http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/gr ... HOWTO.html
LILO tutorial : http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/LILO.html


hope this helps.



btw, when you install fedora.. it'll install & configure the bootloader for you so you wouldn't have to mess with anything. so then you'd get a more updated distro which is sponsored by redhat, and you wouldn't have to mess with the bootloader and possibly corrupting your hard drive(s) just a thought..